Bikes to Reduce Accidents

Talked about the other day of that Spain not sale wrong all in the “photo” of the accident urban. But go well in the photo does not mean that the number of accidents, nor its outcome will be tolerable.

There are many reasons for lower the limit of speed maximum in city. One very powerful is that will reduce the number of dead and injured serious by hit.

In the event of infringement of 30 km/h, it is estimated that survive 95% of hustled pedestrians. As speed rises, falls the rate of survival: in the event of infringement of the speed legal limit of 50 km/h, survives only 45%.

This difference, in a country in which are recorded tens of thousands of abuses in city, supposed that they would reap many lives.

In the 21 years between 1993 and 2013, in Spain, 227.217 people suffered an outrage, 7.678 died and were wounded serious 50.342. They are almost 30 attacks, death and seriously injured more than 6 every day. If they occur evenly, it would be an outrage every 50 minutes somewhere in the country.

If numbers leave them cold, think of it as well: in 21 years, has killed more people than people living in Morata de Tajuna, Madrid. (1)

Almost as many people have suffered serious injury or possibly as inhabitants has Puertollano, Ciudad Real. (2)

Imagine entire villages erased from the map, entire populations in the hospital. Because is so of big the magnitude of the bleeding.

Morata de Tajuña. Image: Wikipedia.

As it happens little by little, and across the country, do not realize. But occurs.

Maybe some think that lowering the maximum speed “complicate” traffic. But the reality is that it is the abuse of the car, rather than maximum speed, which causes congestion. And that congestion is which makes to the car a vehicle slowly in city, not the speed maximum that can reach.

Perhaps les surprise that talk of accidents pedestrian in a blog of bicycle, but believe that the bike must replace to the abuse of car private and never to walk. Achieving this goal cannot be done without curb abuse of private car collapsing cities, dirty air, it makes noise and broilers. And as have today, kills and wounds, directly and indirectly.

In city, we need less cars that are moving more slowly. Us is the life in this.